Since then, Egypt’s government has launched five initiatives offering targeted support for the export sector.

The latest initiative consisted of cash repayment of exporters’ arrears from the Exports Development Fund (EDF), which was launched in 2020 under the directives of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi amid the COVID-19 crisis.

The initiative allows instant cash repayment of the entirety of export companies’ arrears from the EDF at a discount of 15 percent.

Under the fourth round of this initiative, rolled out in mid November 2021, the government allocated EGP 2 billion (around $127 million) to be disbursed to 515 export companies through 28 April 2022, according to Maait.

He added that EGP 900 million (around $57 million) was disbursed in December 2021 under the initiative’s fourth round.

The government is currently considering launching a new initiative in this regard with an eight percent discount instead of 15 percent.

The finance ministry’s Deputy for Financial Policies Ahmed Kojok stated that export companies in the auto, ceramic and pharmaceutical sectors have been allowed to join the cash repayment initiative in order to attract exporters and encourage them to expand production.

For her part, Niven Mansour, adviser to the financial policies deputy, said that the initiative, which has been executed in collaboration of the banking sector, played a key role behind the boom Egypt’s non-oil exports witnessed in 2021, which now exceeds $32 billion.

President El-Sisi instructed the government in 2021 to design a roadmap to increase Egypt’s exports to $100 billion per year.

In 2021, Egypt’s total exports – including oil and non-oil products – hit an all-high time to surpass $45 billion, despite the pandemic crisis and its related repercussions, especially the global supply chain disruption.